Wednesday From Hong Kong to Japan.
We left Hong Kong at 12:15 on Thursday, 22 February, on board the Oceanic.
My cabin mate was a Protestant pastor who had been in China 27 years and spoke Chinese well and knew some 2,000 characters; he had a long, white beard and was always chanting, uttering a prayer at every moment. He was a good man. On the boat came also a woman, also a Protestant pastor, judging by the fact that she was always with the old man.
On board were two Portuguese, two Chinese, and several Englishmen.
I got very seasick on the voyage.
I didn’t like the food on board.
We arrived at Yokohama on the 28th, early in the morning, Tuesday.
We were met by one from the Grand Hotel where I lodged.
13 — April [Tokyo]
Tokio Hotel — Shiba Ysarago — We left Japan. Yokohama.
13 — April, Friday, at 11:15 a.m.
Megaro — Nikko – Hakone — Miyonishita — Mume Sakuna — Subaki — Chodj — Kiku –Feliciano Espino — Escapee from Pangasinan.
I like Japan. Most beautiful scenery, the flowers, the trees, the peaceful inhabitants, so courteous, so willing to please.
Sayonara, sayonara! I spent a beautiful golden month. I don’t know if I shall have another one like it in my life. Love, money, friendship, esteem, distinctions, I did not lack.
To think that I leave this life for the uncertain, the unknown. There I am offered an easy way to live, loved and cherished. I’m going to dedicate to you [Usui Seiko] the last chapter of my reminiscences of my early youth. No woman better than you have loved me, no woman like you have sacrificed herself. As the chodji flower falls from the stem, fresh and perfect without either being stripped of its leaves or withered, and still has poetry after its fall, thus you fell. Neither did you lose your purity nor did the delicate petals of your innocence wither — Sayonara, sayonara! You will never come to know that I have thought of you again nor that your image lives in my memory; and nevertheless I always think of you.
Your name lives in the sighs of my lips; your image accompanies and animates all my thoughts. When shall another divine afternoon like that in the temple of Megaro return? When will the sweet hours spent with you return? When shall there be sweeter, more tranquil, more pleasant hours? You have the colors of the camellia, its freshness, its elegance… Ah! The last descendant of a noble family, true to an unfortunate vengeance, you are beautiful like everything is finished!
Sayonara, sayonara!